Shawn M. Finch, DVM

What I am doing this week is allowing all of my highs and lows to be determined solely on the basis of how the rodents in my life are faring.  Which, if you know me you know, is not unusual.  It just seems that this week, the highs have been especially high, and the lows have been especially low.

First of all, we found out this weekend that our Wuzzy Rat may have a serious illness.  I am still processing it.  And I don’t even know the whole story, just the beginning of it.  However, when I do, I will tell you about it here and maybe on the blog of the awesome website I am now also working with, Omaha.net.

(I don’t know, is there a hairless rat blog section on Omaha.net??)

I will let you know as soon as I know more how she is doing and would appreciate your prayers for Wuzzy.

The good news this week is that starting in the spring, Petsmarts across the country will be carrying Oxbow Vitamin C tablets!! I have been discussing this the past few months with one of Petsmart’s veterinarians who oversees pet care nationally.  I have been asking if they would carry Oxbow Vitamin C 50 mg tablets and telling them why I think it is so important, and for such a large company, they responded amazingly fast.  I thought from the start that it was so kind of them to listen.  I know there were other pet lovers involved in their decision, but from here it feels like I said “Please?” and they said “Your opinion is valid” and more importantly, “yes.”

THANK YOU DOCTOR!

THANK YOU PETSMART!

And in keeping with our rodent theme, here is the “note” I left my friend Jenn yesterday at church…

January 25, 2010  Jennifer VanCleve is my awesome friend who runs Westwood Church’s Preschool Program.  She asked me yesterday to check if her guinea pig Peanut was pregnant.  (She had accidently been left with a male guinea pig at a preschooler’s home.)  She was not.

January 29, 2010 Yes, now there is really is a hairless rat blog section on Omaha.net!  I was kidding about having a hairless rat blog section!  You guys are awesome!  It will be called The Wuzzy Chronicles.  Wuzzy’s first article is up now.  YAY!  I am so excited about this new project!

Talk about an emotional rodent week…while Wuzzy Rat is still not out of the woods health-wise, I just heard today that another Rat Friend has passed away.  He was one of my very favorite patients, and the sweetest pet.  RIP buddy.  You will be dearly missed.

I have been thinking it would be fun to start a “What I am Reading This Week” thread in addition to “What I am Doing This Week.”  I will continue with these random post threads (What I am Thinking, What I am Tweeting, What I am Walking Past…) until you say “Really?  Do we need to know everything??”  And then I will insert a picture of a baby Angora bunny, and you will forgive me, and let me continue.

Sophia Rose, cute bunny of Stephanie Voss

When I thought about starting a “What I am Reading” thread, I thought I would talk about JAVMA and text books, and interesting dog behavior books, and then I ran across THIS book, and I do not want you to miss it!!

So let this be a great start to what will hopefully be a year of me very often curled up in the corner with three dogs and a cat on my lap, chocolate coffee on the table next to me and a great book in my hand!  As I close each book and think through how my perspective has changed or widened, you will always be the first to know.  So far, it has been an extraordinary year!

Introverts in the Church

Finding Our Place in an Extroverted Culture

by Adam S. McHugh

I will come back to this post soon and tell you why I loved this book so much.  For now, know that whether you are a part of the Church or not, whether you are introverted or extroverted, you stand to gain so much by reading this book.  Which is not to say, if you have the same graph in your head that I now do, that you need to read it twice.  However, I plan on doing just that.

It’s winter in Nebraska,

the gentle breezes blow,

seventy miles an hour…

at 25 below,

Oh how I love Nebraska,

when the snow’s up to my butt,

I take a breath of winter

and my nose gets frozen shut.

The weather here is wonderful,

I guess I’ll hang around,

I could never leave Nebraska…

I’m frozen to the ground.

(written by the awesome and talented Janna Richards, Licenced Veterinary Technician and Pet Sitter Extraordinaire, January 9, 2010)